Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch defended her Olympic super combined gold in superb fashion, proving she was the woman to beat in the discipline.

The 29-year-old, who also won the world title last year, posted a total time of two minutes and 34.62 seconds after one downhill and one slalom run.

She finished ahead of Austria's Nicole Hosp at 0.40 and US favourite Julia Mancuso, who made a key mistake halfway through the course to finish third at 0.53 despite leading after the downhill.

Australia's Greta Small placed 15th with a combined time of 2:40.30.

The 18-year-old Small is just the third Australian to finish inside the top 20 in the super combined event at the Olympics.

Hoefl-Riesch was fifth after the morning's run, but put in a smooth performance in the slalom - her speciality - to take her third Olympic gold medal after combined and slalom wins in Vancouver in 2010.

"It was a big fight and it wasn't easy because the snow was tough and bumpy," Hoefl-Riesch said.

"The hill was steep at the start, which I found especially difficult.

"It didn't feel great, but I skied fast enough. I was able to keep my skis going and didn't break too much in the turns."

Switzerland's Lara Gut, second after the downhill and a favourite for the podium, made an expensive mistake halfway down the floodlit course and skied out.

She was one of nine racers who failed to finish the tricky run, including Austrian former double world champion Elisabeth Goergl, Sweden's Lotte Smiseth Sejersted and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin.

Canada's Marie-Michele Gagnon, winner of the sole World Cup super-combined race this season, fell forward after catching a gate with her ski, and appeared injured, holding her left arm as she got up.

In all, 31 racers tackled the slalom course which was new to many, after braving an icy and challenging 2,700-metre downhill in the morning.

The super-combined tests racers' ability to tackle both speed and technical courses but it is the event least featured at World Cup level, with just two or three races per year.